SpecialEducation

I don't have a manual, but I do have a '78. If you need some photos of something, just let me know and I'll try to help. There are also Body and Chassis manuals out there that may help, depending on what you are working on.

If you own the car to make you happy, and it has the looks & performance that makes you happy, then that's enough. If you own the car to brag & win trophies, go ahead and pay the premium for the factory originals. My parents had a green Le Mans when I was a kid, but to me the look of an orange Judge is about as good as it gets. If a Le Mans fell in my lap, and I had a choice of upgrading the powerplant or the body, I'd happily drive a Judge looking Le Mans with the milktoast 350...

Wood heat works pretty well around here. I've considered building a solar heat system for my shop to help keep the chill off when I don't have a fire going, but I haven't pulled the trigger on that yet.

We had considered climate control up there and a staircase, but for now it is just storage. Heat is mostly a wood stove, but we use an electric space heater in the bathroom (all 4 walls are insulated) to keep the pipes from freezing when there isn't a fire going. There's also doggie doors in the side of the shop and into the bathroom so the dogs can get in out of the cold when they so choose. No A/C yet, but I don't expect that to last long when it starts getting warm again.

Oh, nothing, except I've seen what most of the rest of this country looks like. Could be worse, but then it would be called Nebraska.

Liz and Shop Rag hang out while Tux gets new seats and shoes. Shop dogs relaxing on a pile of manifolds and Quadrajets... Shop Rag inspects an engine bay... (he found a refrigerant leak)

Good eye! 30x24 with 10' ceilings. The room upstairs is 12x30. We framed it for two 9' overhead doors, and a 5x5 bathroom. No windows (for security), but we happened to pick up a skylight on clearance. We would have gone wider, but we didn't want to move the sewer line or build over it - although we did have a new run put in at the same time. Upgraded from Orangeburg to PVC, and kicked a line over to the shop for a working bathroom.

Here's the 3/4 done ceiling. We attached the blower hose to a long pole and blew it in from under the attic floor. I've got a video of the blowing process I'll try to link to in a bit. (how's this? https://www.facebook.com/mmcmanamey/videos/10211241040721386/) The only thing left at the ceiling is the sheetrocking around the skylight and some doors for the lift going to the attic. Still a few spots on the walls to finish up too. Obviously some of the equipment has been moved in already, but I've got a couple more things in my shop that have been waiting for the ceiling to get done due to the constant shuffling that's been required up to this point. Still fighting with photos, so I guess that's all for now.

Just finished the roof. Tallest thing in the neighborhood. The middle daughter took this one of grandpa working on the trim. She was a little short compared to the neighbor's fence. Dad thought the wall looked awful plain, so I designed this 'winged sawblade' and he cut it out of aluminum. If you look close on the far left, you can see my shop (the grey one, not the blue 'She-Shack' that belongs to the neighbor between us).

Well, here's some photos the system likes...

I wasn't sure I was going to post this, but the 666 posts just seemed wrong so I figured I better do something about it. (I have no control over posts that were added after I started typing and inadvertently tied things up with a 209mb video.) Back in 2014, dad & I started building him a new shop. I haven't been able to get a car in my shop since we painted the '56 in 2012 because dad was filling up my shop with woodworking tools. The new shop is supposed to be a wood shop, but it has already seen a clutch swap, an engine swap, and some misc Buick work. Mostly because the woodworking equipment wasn't leaving my shop as fast as the auto work needed done. We haven't been able to use it much in the winter because it lacked a ceiling and we couldn't keep the heat in. Well, that problem is just about solved. This Saturday we blew the insulation in and finished the major Sheetrock work. One of the tricks is that it has a room upstairs so there's a 12" gap between the floor and the ceiling, so we left 1/4 of the ceiling off until we could fill the gap. I'm pretty stoked that I got my shop back, and dad's shop just got a lot more usable, too. Two heated shops is going to do wonders for project management around here. Now, the forum software doesn't like my photos, but I'm not going to retype this so I suppose I'll just build some suspense.

Anyone out there with a '69-'72 air cleaner that can give me some dimensions? I need to know if this decal will fit my air cleaner, but I don't really know where my air cleaner came from. I've found several sources for these decals, but none give the dimensions. https://www.opgi.com/cutlass/D400002/ I'm building a 1970 350, but it didn't come with an air cleaner. Out of 4 Olds powerplants I've picked up this year, only one came with an air cleaner. That particular motor is a hodge podge with a '68-'70 block, #8 heads, a '73+ intake, blue paint covering the gold embossed valve covers, etc., so I can't really say what the air cleaner is. The original air cleaner to the car this is going in won't work because it's a plastic 2bbl arrangement.

The upside to my roadside service is that I can call whoever I want. The down side is that I have to pay up front and I get reimbursed. I just have to visit my local agent and he cuts a check on the spot.

Who said "worthless"? Simple facts are that hardtops are more desirable, and 2-doors are more desirable. Personally, I'd prefer a 4-door hardtop over a 2-door sedan, but not everyone sees it that way. The point is that when contemplating repair to sell, or sell as-is, the body style is a factor of the car's sellability. Yes, some buyers like the post cars because they are quieter, but those buyers aren't as plentiful as the Riviera buyers. Just being realistic.

No, I'm between the hole and the shovel.

When your top two sites are a ball of twine and a hole... *sigh*

Ed, It shows up because you previously edited the field. I think it was a bug that showed up after software update following the Korean invasion. Nobody could tell me how to change that field, so I was stuck with 'Senior Member.' People who had previously edited that field on their profile could all see it and edit it, but those of us who didn't, couldn't. I just happened to be on my phone and hit the 'Edit Profile' button and viola! The Member Title field was there for me to edit. After I entered something there on my phone, the field became visible on the desktop site. By the way, I still really miss the Desktop Site button that the mobile site used to have at the bottom (again, before said Korean invasion). Even when I use my phone's "Request Desktop Site" function, I still get the mobile site (with no signatures visible).

Right. EmTee sees exactly what I used to see. Member Title didn't show for me on a desktop browser until I changed it on my phone. Now it shows on desktop & phone.

Just ran across this photo with the trim on...

Exactly. I believe that '57 motor to be in decent enough condition to drop it in as is, but I wouldn't try it with any other option I've seen. If I were to spend the effort & money to go through a motor, I would be more inclined to drop the extra $200 to give it an upgrade and include the original engine loose in the sale. That, and I've got a set of '57 hubcaps that would look way better...

OK, I lied. It's a 2-door sedan. That's a little cooler. Sorry, I haven't seen the car since it went in for paint in 2012... I'm trying to get some current photos.

I'm afraid to spend a lot on the engine because it's a 4-door sedan. I could probably recoup the cost of new bearings and having the crank turned, but I'd have a hard time opening it up and not doing a full-on overhaul. She's known to do really nice body work (although I have yet to see this one in person), but I'm afraid the demand for the less-cool body style will make it harder to sell. Perhaps a 322 Century motor would give the cool factor a bump? If it were a 4-door hardtop, I'd probably keep it myself...

Yep, between Christmas and the Olds I'm building...

Exploring options right now. The $200 engine in KC might be worth the drive. At least the '57 seller seems fairly knowledgeable in what he has, but I know that's not an easy swap. That KC engine may not be any better than what's coming out, but at least it's a 322! The fact that he 'knows nothing' about it scares me a bit, though. I'm sick. I've got a mental issue. That's really the problem, here.

OK, so poking around on *another* site, I found a couple tidbits. It looks like the '57 tailshaft is longer. The '56 & '57 tailshafts seemed to be swappable, but I don't know about '55 & '57... the long pole may be that the motor mounts also changed in '57, and I don't think this donor engine comes with them. There's also a '56 engine available locally. Stuck valve, but turns over. Cheaper, but a much more questionable investment. '55 heads on the '56 block?